This is certainly not necessary,
but in projects that have connections to both Analysis Services and a relational
database, it??™s easier to keep them separate using some sort of naming convention
to easily identify what they are accessing. Unfortunately, the symbol shown in the
Solution Explorer window is the same for all data sources. The Type drop-down list
includes items such as SQL Server, Analysis Services, and Oracle among others,
while also including far more generic items such as OLE DB, ODBC, and XML. The
connection string can simply be typed in manually but in many cases, it??™s better to
click on the Edit button, which opens the Connection Properties dialog box shown
in Figure 10-3. When using Analysis Services as a source, the developer uses this
dialog box to enter the server name and then choose the name of the Analysis Services
database. By using this dialog, the developer is assured that the connection string is
formatted properly. Figure 10-2 includes the connection string that matches the settings
for the Connection Properties dialog as shown in Figure 10-3.
Once a data source is in place, it??™s time to create the first report. Simply right-clicking
on the Reports folder and choosing Add New Report launches the Report Wizard.
Again, there is nothing wrong with using the wizard, because it guides the developer
Figure 10-3 The Connection Properties dialog box lets developers build the connection
through a wizard, ensuring the connection string is properly formatted.
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